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BT TV CEO Marc Watson hailed the success of BT’s new sports app yesterday, claiming that it is expected to reach the 1 million download milestone next month.

Making a keynote speech at the Royal Television Society, Watson said that though UK ratings body Barb does not currently measure the number of app viewers, the trend for people watching online – whether via a PC, Mac or a mobile device – was growing and broadband would increasingly be an important platform for television.

“Television is changing thanks to broadband and that transformation is only going to get more dramatic as customers move to much faster fibre. It is clear that many customers are now watching online rather than via their TV sets and we hope that Barb will soon find a way to capture this important audience,” said Watson.

“The BT Sport App has proved to be a great success with our customers. More than a million homes will have soon downloaded the App and, whilst many of those can also watch via their TVs, there are literally hundreds of thousands of people who have chosen to watch exclusively online,” he added.

BT said that more than three million households are already equipped to watch its new sports channels on their TVs – either via satellite, BT TV or Virgin Media – though did not break down subscriber numbers. Last month it said that more than 10,000 UK pubs, clubs, betting shops, hotels and other commercial customers have signed up for BT Sport since the UK telco’s service launched.